Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

January 4, 2003

George Clooney gets behind the camera for the first time and tosses out a startingly assured debut. The dangerous mind in question is that of Chuck Barris, host of the Gong Show. In his memoirs, he claimed that while he was working in television, he was also a paid assassin for the CIA. It’s a concept so nutty, it’d be pretty hard to make something uninteresting or boring out of it. Can’t miss.

In terms of execution, the movie hits most of its marks. Clooney’s direction is solid all around in terms of shotmaking and narrative, and includes a few inspired camera setups. I found the cinematography to fluctuate from being really good to slightly distracting, but not enough to really bother me. Sam Rockwell turns in a really fun performance as Chuck Barris, and all the supporting work is quite fine as well (Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer, George Clooney). It’s not perfect though. It’s a bit scattershot at times, particularly towards the end, but it’s almost always engaging.

Makes me really want to read the original autobiography and see just how loose Barris’ screws really are.

Posted in Moving Pictures